Multiple device notification synchronization

ABSTRACT

A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices includes a system for responding to a notification of a first copy of the software program in a first one of the devices; a system for sending a notification responded signal to a second one of the devices by the first device that the notification has been responded to; and a system for automatically preventing a duplicate of the notification from occurring in a second copy of the software program on the second device based upon the notification responded signal received by the second device from the first device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to responding to notifications and, moreparticularly, to prevent or respond to duplicate notifications in asoftware program or application on respective multiple devices.

2. Brief Description of Prior Developments

If a user has calendars in multiple devices synchronized, such as twomobile devices and a personal computer (PC), a calendar alarm can pop-upin all devices at the same time. Responding to all three alarmnotifications in each device separately is annoying and time consuming.No earlier solutions, other than manual dismissal of notifications oneach device, are known.

There is a desire to provide a system which can update software programsor applications on respective multiple devices when a response to anotification is entered by a user in one of the devices, thus,eliminating the need to manually dismiss the notifications on each ofthe other devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a system forupdating multiple copies of a software program on respective multipledevices is provided including a system for responding to a notificationof a first copy of the software program in a first one of the devices; asystem for sending a notification responded signal to a second one ofthe devices by the first device that the notification has been respondedto; and a system for automatically preventing a duplicate of thenotification from occurring in a second copy of the software program onthe second device based upon the notification responded signal receivedby the second device from the first device.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a system forupdating multiple copies of a software program on respective multipledevices is provided comprising a system for responding to a notificationof a first copy of the software program in a first one of the devices; asystem for sending a notification responded signal to a second one ofthe devices by the first device that the notification has been respondedto; and a system for automatically responding to a duplicate of thenotification in a second copy of the software program on the seconddevice based upon the notification responded signal received by thesecond device from the first device.

In accordance with one method of the present invention, a method ofupdating multiple copies of a software program on respective multipledevices is provided comprising responding to a notification of a firstcopy of the software program in a first one of the devices; sending anotification responded signal to a second one of the devices by thefirst device that the notification has been responded to; andautomatically preventing a duplicate of the notification from occurringin a second copy of the software program on the second device based uponthe notification responded signal received by the second device from thefirst device.

In accordance with another method of the present invention, a method ofupdating multiple copies of a software program on respective multipledevices is provided comprising responding to a notification of a firstcopy of the software program in a first one of the devices; sending anotification responded signal to a second one of the devices by thefirst device that the notification has been responded to; andautomatically responding to a duplicate of the notification in a secondcopy of the software program on the second device based upon thenotification responded signal received by the second device from thefirst device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and other features of the present invention areexplained in the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of components and steps in a deviceincorporating features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating coupling of the device shown inFIG. 1 to one or more second devices;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of components and steps used in one of thesecond devices shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of method steps used with features of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a system using features of the present inventionwith multiple mobile communications devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a block diagram of a system 10incorporating features of the present invention. Although the presentinvention will be described with reference to the exemplary embodimentsshown in the drawings, it should be understood that the presentinvention can be embodied in many alternate forms of embodiments. Inaddition, any suitable size, shape or type of elements or materialscould be used.

This invention relates to multiple device ownership or use by a sameuser, and corresponding user interface notifications happening inseveral devices. This invention enables the user to respond to an alarmnotification only on one device, which then communicates the response tothe other devices. This system can, in turn, automatically close thecorresponding alarm notifications in the other devices with the givenresponse, or cancel showing the corresponding notifications if theyhaven't shown yet. This invention can be generalized so that anynotification or user interaction associated to a same event, andhappening on multiple devices, can be responded to by using only onedevice. This invention requires that the devices are somehow connectedto each other. The connection media may be, for example, Bluetooth, USB,TCP/IP, Infrared, etc. The connection may be active at the time of alarmor notification happening, or can occur later after it has happened. Thealarm or notification is associated with a unique event identifier whichis common between all related devices. All devices can implement thesame protocol which at least describe the event identifier and responseidentifier.

The present invention relates to synchronization in a multi-deviceenvironment. In the future a person may have more than one mobiledevices in use (one in work, one in free time, etc.) that all should besynchronized with each other and with a separate device such as apersonal computer (PC). There is a need that a user should be able torespond to (e.g. calendar alert) via one device without a need toacknowledge the same event notification from each device.

FIG. 1 shows a software program or application 12 which is adapted tosend a notification or alarm 14 to the user. For example, the program 12could comprise a calendar or scheduling program, such as Microsoft®Outlook®, MEETING MAKER, OfficeTalk®, PDA or Palm® software, or even aweb based system such as MyAppointments.net. The notification could be atask reminder or calendar event, or any other suitable type of alarm ornotification. When the notification 14 takes place, the user of thedevice can respond to the notification as indicated in block 16. Thisresponse then deactivates the notification or resets the notificationfor a future time and/or date. When the user responds to thenotification, the program 12 receives a signal as indicated by line 18and, in addition, the device generates a notification responded signal20. The notification responded signal 20 could be generated by theprogram 12 or any other suitable system inside the device. Thenotification responded signal 20 is adapted to be sent from the deviceto at least one other device.

Referring also to FIG. 2, the system 10 is shown inside a first device22. The first device 22 can send the notification responded signal 20 toone or more second devices 24 by a connection 23. The connection 23could comprise any suitable type of connection including, for example,Bluetooth, USB, TCP/IP, Infrared, Internet, Intranet, or use of a mobiletelephone communications system. The receiving device(s) 24 comprises acopy of the software program or application 12. The copy 26 could be asame version of the original software program or application 12 or couldbe a different version, so long as the original 12 and the copy 26 usecompatible notification or alarm systems. The program/application 26could comprise a calendar or scheduling program, such as for exampleMicrosoft® Outlook®, MEETING MAKER, OfficeTalk®, PDA or Palm® software,or even a web based system such as MyAppointments.net. The original 12and the copy or receiving program/application 26 could be differentprograms/applications, so long as they use compatible notification oralarm systems. The programs/applications could be adapted to run ondifferent operating systems; such as WINDOWS, WINDOWS CE, LINUX, PSIONEPOC, and PALM OS for example.

Referring also to FIG. 3, when the notification responded signal 20 isreceived by the second device(s) 24, the signal 20 is sent to theprogram or application 26. The program or application 26 uses the signalto either prevent a duplicate of the notification 14 from occurring inthe second device(s) 24 as indicated by block 28, or automaticallyresponds to the duplicate of the notification as indicated by block 30if the notification has already occurred in the second device 24. Thesoftware/application 26 or another component of the device 24 could beadapted to perform one or both of these operations 28, 30.

With the present invention, when a user responses to the notification 14(e.g. calendar alarm) in a first device 22, the device 22 can send theresponse to the other devices 24 using an agreed protocol and an activeconnection media; the connection 23. The device(s) 24 receiving theresponse can find a notification having the same identifier as in theresponse, and feeds the response to the similar application (or piece ofsoftware) in the receiving device 24; the similar program/application tothat which initiated the notification in the sending device 22. Theapplication in this other device then uses the response as it was givenby the user in the first device. This is illustrated in FIG. 4. The userresponds to the notification in the first device as indicated by block32. The first device sends the notification responded signal asindicated by block 34. The notification responded signal can then beused by the receiving device to either automatically prevent a duplicateor equivalent of the notification in the receiving device as indicatedby block 36, or automatically respond to a duplicate or equivalent ofthe notification by the receiving device as indicated in block 38.

It is possible to synchronize locally between a mobile device such as amobile telephone and a PC, and remotely between the mobile terminal anda network server. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/661,779 filed Sep.11, 2003, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety,teaches how two terminals can be synchronized by using special profilesfor activation. This does not teach acknowledging notifications, butgenerally about synchronization. The present invention provides afeature which enables a person to respond concentradetly to applicationnotifications occurring in several devices in a same time.

Referring now also to FIG. 5, one scenario of use of the presentinvention with a mobile communications device will be described. In thisscenario the first device 22 comprises a mobile telephone orcommunicator. The device 22 could comprise any type of mobile electronicapparatus such as, for example, a mobile telephone, a personal dataassistant (PDA), a mobile communicator, a laptop or notebook computer,or a mobile game player. In the embodiment shown, the mobile device 22comprises an antenna 40, a transceiver 42, a controller 44, and a userinterface 46. The mobile device 22 obviously comprises other components.For example, in a mobile telephone or mobile communicator the mobiledevice 22 comprises a display screen, a battery, a microphone and aspeaker or sound transducer. The present invention could also be usedwith mobile devices that are not in just one piece. The mobile devicecould be ubiquitous in a sense that storage memory is outside the coredevice and perhaps has some other components as well. The presentinvention could be used with a virtual device with all the componentsexisting, but not all in the same “place”.

The transceiver 42 and antenna 40 are adapted to communicate by means ofa link 48 through a mobile communications system 50 as part of theconnection 23. In the embodiment shown, the link 48 comprises a wirelesslink, such as a radio frequency link. The air interface standard mayconform to, for example, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) airinterface, or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) air interface, or aFrequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) air interface, or GSM, or 3G.In alternate embodiments, features of the present invention could beused with any suitable type of air interface standard. In an alternateembodiment, features of the present invention could be used with a wiredcommunications system, such as a land line telephone system. Thewireless telecommunications system establishes the wireless link 48 tocouple the mobile device 22 to a base transceiver station (BTS) of theexemplary network operator 52.

The network operator generally comprises a mobile switching center (MSC)for connecting to a telecommunications network, such as a publicswitched telephone network or PSTN, at least one base station controller(BSC), and a plurality of base transceiver stations (BTS) that transmitin a forward or downlink direction both physical and logical channels tothe mobile device 16 in accordance with a predetermined air interfacestandard. A reverse or uplink communication path exists from the mobiledevice 22 to the network operator, and conveys mobile station originatedaccess requests and traffic, such as voice and possible packet datatraffic.

The network operator can include a Message Service Center (MSCT) thatreceives and forwards messages from the mobile device 22, such as ShortMessage Service (SAS) messages, or any wireless messaging techniqueincluding Email and supplementary data services. In an alternateembodiment, features of the present invention could be used with anysuitable type of network operator system.

The mobile device 22 also contains a wireless section that includes adigital signal processor (DSP), or equivalent high-speed processor, aswell as the wireless radio frequency (RF) transceiver 42 comprising atransmitter and a receiver. The transceiver is coupled to the antenna 40for communication with the network operator. In an alternate embodiment,features of the present invention could be used with any suitable typeof wireless communications device or mobile phone. Data transfer canoccur between the mobile device 22 and the one of the other devices 24by means of the mobile communications system 50 and connection 23.

The connection 23 could comprise a server 54 with a memory 56. Theserver 54 can be used to temporarily store the notification respondedsignal 20 in the event any of the links 58, 60 of the connection 23 tothe other devices 24 is not active. When the links 58, 60 become active,the server 54 can then forward or send the signal 20 to the device(s)24. In an alternate embodiment, the mobile communications system 50could comprise the server 54 used for temporarily storing thenotification responded signal 20. The system for sending thenotification responded signal is preferably adapted to send thenotification responded signal to the plurality of second devices atsubstantially a same time.

As noted above, the server 54 could be located in the mobilecommunications system 50 or the connection 23. The connection 23 couldcomprise any suitable type of connection such as, for example, atelephone line, a cable line, satellite dish, an Internet connection, awireless link, etc. or a combination or two or more of these. In theembodiment shown, one of the second devices 24 is a second mobiletelephone or communicator 62. The link 58 comprises a wireless link. Theother one of the second devices 24 is a personal computer 64. The link60 comprises a connection such as a DSL connection or a cable modemconnection.

With this embodiment the two second devices 62, 64 comprise a program orapplication with a notification feature similar to the notificationfeature in the mobile telephone 22. When the user responds to thenotification in the mobile telephone 22, the mobile telephone 22 is ableto send the notification responded signal to the other devices 62, 64via the connection 23 and links 58, 60. Thus, the present invention canprevent a duplicate or similar notification from occurring in thedevices 62, 64 or, if they have already occurred before the notificationresponded signal is received by the devices 62, 64, then allow thedevices 62, 64 to automatically respond to those notification(s) in thedevices 62, 64 when the notification responded signal is received.

It should be understood that the foregoing description is onlyillustrative of the invention. Various alternatives and modificationscan be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from theinvention. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace allsuch alternatives, modifications and variances which fall within thescope of the appended claims.

1. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices, the system comprising: a system for responding to a notification of a first copy of the software program in a first one of the devices; a system for sending a notification responded signal to a second one of the devices by the first device that the notification has been responded to; and a system for automatically preventing a duplicate of the notification from occurring in a second copy of the software program on the second device based upon the notification responded signal received by the second device from the first device.
 2. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 1 wherein the notification comprises a calendar alarm.
 3. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 1 wherein the copies of the software program are different.
 4. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 1 wherein the first copy of the software program is adapted to run with a first type of operating system and the second copy of the software program is adapted to run with a second different type of operating system.
 5. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 1 wherein the first device comprises a mobile communications device.
 6. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 5 wherein the second device comprises a mobile communications device.
 7. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 1 wherein the system for sending the notification responded signal comprises a wireless link.
 8. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 7 wherein the system for sending the notification responded signal comprises use of a mobile telephone communications system.
 9. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 1 wherein the system for sending a notification responded signal is adapted to send the notification responded signal to a third one of the devices by the first device that the notification has been responded to, and wherein the system for automatically preventing a duplicate of the notification from occurring is adapted to prevent a duplicate of the notification from occurring in a third copy of the software program on the third device based upon the notification responded signal received by the third device from the first device.
 10. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 1 wherein the system for sending a notification responded signal is adapted to send the notification responded signal to a plurality of the devices at substantially a same time.
 11. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices, the system comprising: a system for responding to a notification of a first copy of the software program in a first one of the devices; a system for sending a notification responded signal to a second one of the devices by the first device that the notification has been responded to; and a system for automatically responding to a duplicate of the notification in a second copy of the software program on the second device based upon the notification responded signal received by the second device from the first device.
 12. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 11 wherein the notification comprises a calendar alarm.
 13. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 11 wherein the copies of the software program are different.
 14. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 11 wherein the first copy of the software program is adapted to run with a first type of operating system and the second copy of the software program is adapted to run with a second different type of operating system.
 15. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 11 wherein the first device comprises a mobile communications device.
 16. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 15 wherein the second device comprises a mobile communications device.
 17. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 11 wherein the system for sending the notification responded signal comprises a wireless link.
 18. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 17 wherein the system for sending the notification responded signal comprises use of a mobile telephone communications system.
 19. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 11 wherein the system for sending a notification responded signal is adapted to send the notification responded signal to a third one of the devices by the first device that the notification has been responded to, and wherein the system for automatically responding to a duplicate of the notification is adapted to prevent the duplicate of the notification from occurring in a third copy of the software program on the third device based upon the notification responded signal received by the third device from the first device.
 20. A system for updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices as in claim 11 wherein the system for sending a notification responded signal is adapted to send the notification responded signal to a plurality of the devices at substantially a same time.
 21. A method of updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices, the method comprising: responding to a notification of a first copy of the software program in a first one of the devices; sending a notification responded signal to a second one of the devices by the first device that the notification has been responded to; and automatically preventing a duplicate of the notification from occurring in a second copy of the software program on the second device based upon the notification responded signal received by the second device from the first device.
 22. A method as in claim 21 wherein the sending of the notification responded signal comprises transmitting the notification responded signal, at least partially, by a mobile telephone communications system.
 23. A method as in claim 21 further comprising sending the notification responded signal to a third one of the devices at substantially a same time.
 24. A method as in claim 21 wherein the notification comprises a calendar alarm.
 25. A method as in claim 21 wherein the copies of the software program are different.
 26. A method as in claim 21 wherein the first copy of the software program is adapted to run with a first type of operating system and the second copy of the software program is adapted to run with a second different type of operating system.
 27. A method as in claim 21 wherein the first device comprises a mobile communications device.
 28. A method as in claim 27 wherein the second device comprises a mobile communications device.
 29. A method of updating multiple copies of a software program on respective multiple devices, the system comprising: responding to a notification of a first copy of the software program in a first one of the devices; sending a notification responded signal to a second one of the devices by the first device that the notification has been responded to; and automatically responding to a duplicate of the notification in a second copy of the software program on the second device based upon the notification responded signal received by the second device from the first device.
 30. A method as in claim 29 wherein the sending of the notification responded signal comprises transmitting the notification responded signal, at least partially, by a mobile telephone communications system.
 31. A method as in claim 29 further comprising sending the notification responded signal to a third one of the devices at substantially a same time.
 32. A method as in claim 29 wherein the notification comprises a calendar alarm.
 33. A method as in claim 29 wherein the copies of the software program are different.
 34. A method as in claim 29 wherein the first copy of the software program is adapted to run with a first type of operating system and the second copy of the software program is adapted to run with a second different type of operating system.
 35. A method as in claim 29 wherein the first device comprises a mobile communications device.
 36. A method as in claim 35 wherein the second device comprises a mobile communications device. 